Guy Turns His Old Bike Into Pedal-Powered Treehouse Elevator

If you decide to live in a tree house, prepare yourself that the idea will also have some downsides to it as well. Ethan Schlussler from Sandpoint, Idaho eventually got tired of “climbing a ladder six and a half million times a day” just to get up to his house, and that led him to a great solution. Ethan constructed an amazing bicycle-powered elevator to get him to his house that’s 30 feet above the ground!

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“It was originally a 20-something speed bicycle, but first gear wasn’t slow enough, so I cut the large sprocket off the front, and welded it on the rear to get a lower gear. I also had to do away with the de-railers and make a new chain tensioner,” says Ethan. The customized bicycle now gets Ethan to his tree house by moving up a giant chain as the guy pedals. Getting back down, naturally, is a lot easier!

Ethan’s bicycle-powered elevator clearly earns a place on the list of 30 Weird And Awesome Inventions – and we got a feeling that there are enough creative people out there to keep the list growing!